Instead of odd-even, go for last-digit rationing: CII

New Delhi, April 17 (IANS) The Delhi government must opt for the concept of “last-digit rationing” for automobiles rather than the odd-even policy currently on for a more robust and lasting impact on pollution, the Confederation of Indian Industry has said.

The “last digit automobile rationing” of vehicles means the registration plates of vehicles ending with number 1 will not be allowed to ply on the roads on the 1st, 11th, 21st and 31st of a month. Those with number 2 can’t ply on the 2nd, 12th and 22nd, the chamber said.

“We suggest ‘last digit rationing’ should be done for every digit covering all vehicles — cars, two-wheelers, taxis which include large numbers of diesel SUVs and commercial vehicles, other than vehicles on CNG, buses, ambulances, fire brigade and police vehicles.”

CII said a study by it showed that if a vehicle runs for 10 km daily for 365 days, then it will emit 9.4 lakh grams of carbon-dioxide. If all registered vehicles in Delhi run for 10 km for 365 days, then they will emit 1.28 million tonnes into the capital’s environment.

Then, if the odd-even scheme — only applicable to non-CNG private cars — is implemented for 15 days every quarter, or a total of 60 days in a year, then the total reduction in emission would be 4,823 tonnes, which is 0.37 percent of the total emission in the year.

“On the other hand, if ‘last digit automobile rationing’ scheme is implemented throughout the year, the total reduction in emission would be 10,549 tonnes in a year — which means a reduction of 0.82 percent of the total emission in the year,” the chamber said.

“Given this analysis, the ‘last digit automobile rationing’ scheme van be made permanent as it does not add much pressure on public transport system as well and we suggest the state government to consider implementing it for at least one month,” the chamber said.

Delhi had over 26 lakh registered cars as of March 31, 2015.

The odd-even scheme, now in its second edition from April 15-30, allows only those cars with odd-numbered registration plates to run on odd dates and even-numbered ones on even dates. It exempts two-wheeers, CNG vehicles, vehicles driven by women drivers and vehicles used by VIPs.